The World Tourism Forum Istanbul ended with a special surprise

On the second day at the World Tourism Forum in Istanbul, Mustafa Demir, Mayor, Faith Municipality, pointed out the important connection between tourism and culture in his keynote address.

On the agenda was sports tourism presented by Dr. Hanfried Haring, President, European, Equestrian Federation, and Roddy Carr, Senior Vice President, Legardere Sports.

Tourism and politics were highlighted by Ganire Pasayeva, member of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan.

Didem Ozyigit, General Manager, Haromonia Surgical Tourism Istanbul, talked about the enormous potential of medical tourism. High costs and waitlists drive medical tourism for many Americans to seek treatment elsewhere.

Also on the agenda was MICE tourism with a panel discussion by Ozgul Ozhan Yavus, GM, ICVB; Prasant Saha, CEO, CIM Global; Miha Kovacic, Director, Slovenian Convention Bureau; Ceylan Princcioglu, Executive Chairman, VIP Tourism; and Kerim Siphailer, Co-founder, Sipahiler Events and Chairman of Site Turkey.

Nilsun Tumer, Managing Partner, Hotel & More; Lagiso Dumasi, Commercial Manager Africa, BCD Travel Accommodation; Faith Akbulut, President of the Board, Turkish African Business Association, explored new tourism markets in Africa.

Also on the agenda was Social Media, Uber, and transport solutions.

Ismail Errug, member of the European Parliament, Committee on Transport and Tourism, gave his keynote address on the European Perspective on the Tourism Industry.

Senior tourism, hospitality marketing, hotel management, smart investments, and new technology dimensions in the tourism industry were presented by Gregg Webb, Vice Chairman, Sabre, who was on the action-packed program on Friday in Istanbul at the World Tourism Forum.

eTN publisher, Juergen Steinmetz, and Simon Lewis, Founder, Travel Concept Solution, closed this action-filled day in Istanbul which was followed by a spectacular gala dinner at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski hotel in Istanbul that included an award presentation and Turkish entertainment.

The World Tourism Forum is scheduled to be concluded on Saturday with a farewell address by the President of the Republic of Turkey – Recep Tayyip Erdogan.